Bentley Flying Spur W12 S revealed as Bentley seems to drop the ‘Speed’ badge

The Bentley Flying Spur W12 S has been revealed as the Flying Spur flagship and the fastest four-door Bentley ever produced.

It’s more than three years since the current Bentley Flying Spur was revealed, since when we’ve also had the Spur V8 arrive (and the Spur V8 S, arguably a better car than the W12 Flying Spur) but what we haven’t had is a new Flying Spur Speed.

Well now we have, although it’s not called a Speed, instead having to make do with the less evocative, and certainly less ‘Bentley’, moniker – the Bentley Flying Spur W12 S.

When we reviewed the Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed in 2011, we concluded it was the perfect car for the plutocrat boy racer, although a niche car within an already very niche market with its stiffer setup appealing to drivers rather than passengers- almost the antithesis of the Flying Spur’s reason to exist. Still, we loved it.

That perhaps explains why Bentley has been slow to bring the Flying Spur Speed back, but back it is, albeit as the Flying Spur W12 S, complete with more power and torque – 626bhp and 605lb/ft of torque, not quite as much as the latest Continental GT Speed – to drive it to 62mph in 4.2 seconds and on to 202mph.

Also in the mix for the W12 S are a retuned suspension to improve handling and traction, new specific damper settings for a more agile drive and carbon ceramic brakes as an option.

Cosmetic tweaks to mark out the W12 S from the mere W12 include the required W12 S badges, darkened lights, gloss black detailing, 21″ black alloys, black engine-spin finish for the fascia, W12 S logos on the treadplates and headrests, Sport Plus steering wheel and knurled flappy paddles. You know you’ve arrived when your flappy paddles are knurled.

The new Bentley Flying Spur W12 S is now on sale at Bentley’s UK dealers, and although Bentley hasn’t revealed its price we’d have thought something a bit north of £170k would be about right.